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Liam Clarke: Adams can’t deny his position is shaky

Gerry Adams last week used a speech to a conference on young people to admit that he had been legally advised not to sue over allegations that he has lied and covered up child-sex abuse.

The Sinn Fein president's problems started with the UTV Insight programme in December that accused his brother, Liam Adams, of abusing his own daughter. Since then there have been mounting accusations that Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein failed to act appropriately on allegations of sex abuse against republicans. The Sunday Tribune has gone the furthest, repeatedly accusing him of lying. Such a charge - that someone has deliberately told an untruth, as opposed to making an honest mistake - is notoriously difficult for a newspaper to prove.

Adams told the conference last Wednesday that he had "spent all last night in Dublin with very rich lawyers" who had advised him that the press "can publish anything, [including]